Drop It Coz It's Rot address the tax on tampons and pads in Australia. Photo / YouTube
Drop It Coz It's Rot address the tax on tampons and pads in Australia. Photo / YouTube
A group of Australian women - including Prime Minister Tony Abbott's sister - have made a real song and dance about the tax on tampons.
The resulting video, titled Drop It Coz It's Rot - a parody of Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot - highlights the 10 per cent goods and services tax (GST) on tampons.
"When they taxin' our tampons, drop it coz it's rot, drop it coz it's rot," say the adjusted lyrics.
"I B-L-E-E-D just 'cause I was born as me/So I pay the GST 'cause menstruation ain't for free."
Tony Abbott's sister Christine Forster (L) appears in the video. Photo / YouTube
The video even features a cameo appearance by Christine Forster, the prime minister's sister. Ms Forster told the BBC she appeared in the video as a "favour for a friend".
She met the video's writer and director Mia Lethbridge two years ago, when she played Forster in a local theatre production.
Lethbridge, a Sydney-based actor, said she made the video after being inspired by comedian Amy Schumer's Milk, Milk, Lemonade video.
"I liked playing with the idea of women refusing to wear their tampons and pads because the government deems them 'non-essential'," she told the Herald.
"If we bled out on the bus seats and in the libraries, I reckon they'd become classed 'essential items' pretty quickly."
Drop It Coz It's Rot plays with the objectification of women in music videos, replacing gold chains and other assorted bling with tampons and pads - some of them used.
"It's striking how women are sexualised and objectified over and over in modern-day commercial music videos," Lethbridge told the BBC. "I thought it would've been brilliant to invert that, and say okay, you want to see us sexy then see us how we really are. We bleed."
Photo / YouTube
Another aim of the video was to tackle the taboo around talking about periods.
"I think the more we talk about it the less stigmatised it is," she said. "When I got my first period it was more of a celebration than anything else."
"Given that, a few months later it was a lot less exciting and a lot more annoying," she added.
In Australia, consumers pay GST of 10 per cent on all non-essential items - and this includes tampons and pads. Treasurer Joe Hockey said in May that he believed these items should be classified as essential goods.
Condoms, lubricants, sunscreen and nicotine patches are all GST-free, as they are considered essential health items.
However, Mr Abbott says it's impossible for the federal government to change the GST without the support of states and territories - although this has been disputed by some legal experts.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that removing GST on tampons and pads would cost around A$30 million (NZ$33 million) a year.
